This is not a blog about complaints from people who can't find jobs right now. Other people have jobs, we will get jobs. Some of those posting here have jobs. The point is that these jobs will not be in the field that we got our degrees in. We have been trained in a skill which there are no jobs for - why were we told otherwise and why does the establishment continue this practice?

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Masters in Public Admin.

A friend from another field with a masters sent in this.

Who I am?

I am Patrick S., I graduated from
SUNY Binghamton with a Masters in Public Administration degree. I finished my
degree requirements December 2011 and have not found gainful employment since
graduating, which makes this the 14th month I've been unemployed. I have
over a decade of administrative, leadership, and project management experience. From
the day I attended orientation to the date of my graduation I was assured there
are plenty of jobs for graduates with a MPA degree.

The professors would often mention
the promising careers in the public sector that this degree program would
prepare us for. That the skills we were learning were invaluable to
organizations and their graduates go on to work for local governments and
non-profit organizations. That there were more jobs out there then there are
people to fill them and we’d have no problem finding work after graduation. The
reality is that the job market is scarce, organizations want volunteers, not
employees and the MPA degree is considered a terminal degree there was no
fallback to going on to a PhD.

I faced a stark realization after
graduation because of the lack of jobs is that I presently have over $100,000
in student debt accruing interest of 6.9% and 7.9% APR (depending on the loan
type) and a monthly repayment of over $1,150 for 120 payment periods. Given the
experience I've had over the last fourteen months and factoring in
the two and a half years of my life I dedicated to earning my advanced degree.
I regretfully see my Masters for all intent and purpose as a joke and a mistake
which has cost me tens of thousands of dollars.

How am I to survive with my massive
credit card debt, my overwhelming student debt, and the personal debt owed to
friends without gainful employment? I have applied to hundreds of positions
with universities, non-profit organizations, and government entities. Only getting
to interview for one out of fifty positions I applied to. I've often
gotten the response that I am best qualified for the position but I have not
been selected for interview. This is not the job market my professors told
us about.

Out of desperation I've found
temporary employment for hourly pay through a temp agency. The only job they
had was so far enough away from my home that the cost of fuel to commute to and
from work costs 25% of my income. Yet I was told by the recruiters I should be
grateful to even find employment at all. I am not grateful that after taxes and
associated costs of employment I am roughly earning $4/hour which equates to
roughly $160 a week take home pay which will barely pay half of my present
bills. Which has caused me to use my life savings to live off of because of my present underemployment situation.